Woven-wire belt for paper-making machines and method of forming the same



Feb. 18, I930.

' N. w. WEBB 1,747,274 WOVEN .wms BELT FOR "PAPER MAKING MACHINES 'AND rmwnon OF FORMING THE suns:

Filed March 5, 1.929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR. N51. 501v N. WEBB.

BY H ,WM

ATTORNEY.

Feb. 18, 1930. w, B 1,747,274

WOVEN WIRE BELT FOR PAPER MAKING MACHINES AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME Filed March 5, 1.929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. .NELEUN N WEBB.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 18,1930

UNITED. "STATES.

PATENT oFrIcE- NELsoN WEBB, 0F BELLEVILLE, NEw JERSEY, AssIeNon. T0 EASTWOOD WIRE CORPORATION, 0E BEL EVI LE, Ew JERSEY, A CORPORATION, OF NEW JERSEY WOVEN-WIRE BELT FOR PAPER-MAKING MACHINES. METHOD OF FORMING THE c SAME 0 Application filed March 5,

- sile strength, flexibility, and porosity as the body of the'wire, and should be free of any projecting ends or knuckles, or any portions or wire ends that might become projected during use of the belt. The seam should furthermore be substantially continuous with the surface of the body of the Wire at each side.

In addition to the detrimental effect that imperfections in the seam have upon the aper, there is also the chance of injuring the body of the wire, rendering it unfit for further use. Wire belts of this type are usually of very fine weave, say 60 to 80 wires to the inch, and -are of large dimensions, say 80 feet long and feet wide, and in their use in the paper machine move at great speed, say 1000 feet a minute. The fineness of the weave and the large size ofthe belt make the production of a} suitable seam very diflicult, and the extreme conditions of use put it to such severe strains and stresses that a weak point or irregularity in the seam is apt to open up or stretch, with the result usually that the entire wire belt is spoiled for further use and must 'be discarded.

crease in the life of the belt not only will re-- sult in a very great saving in the cost of manufacture of the paper produced upon the machine, but will reduce the number of times that the machine must be laid up for the installation of a new belt.

The seam is usually produced by a lacing wire that is hand-sewed about the end shoots of weft wire, this operation requiring great 1929. Serial No. 844,307.

endweft wires are not as securely supported against longitudinal strain as the weft wires in the body of the wire cloth, and any shiftmg of these end weft wires will tend to spread or cam-open the end portions of the warp wires causing them to project beyond the surface of the belt. Various methods have been employed to secure them against the terrific strain they must undergo in use, but these have been unsatisfactory in practice for the most part. I

It is an object of the present invention to produce a wire belt in which the end weft wires are connected to the warp wires in such manner that said end weft wires will resist longitudinal pulling strains equally at all points along the width of'the belt, while at the same time every warp wire, end will be securely held to the end weft wires against the tendency to spread beyond the surface of the wire cloth, and further to provide'such end weft wires of such dimensions that the lacing Wire may be carried about them without increasing the thickness of the belt at the seam, and in such manner that the seam will have substantially the same characteristics of strength, flexibility and porosity as the body of the cloth. i

To this end it is proposed to provide end weft wires of elongated cross-section, sub stantially integrally joined to the warp wire ends, as by brazing, in such manner that the union between them extends over a relatively long junction area longitudinally of the warp wires, and not only over the superimposed surfaces, but also over supporting or trussing'aieas surrounding the superimposed sur,-

faces, sothat the resistance to pulling strains 'isvmost effectually opposed to the direction of such strains.

According to the present embodiment of g the invention the end weft Wires are of slightly greater cross-sectional width than the diameter of' the wires of which the cloth is woven, and are slightly less in thickness than the diameter of such wires. WVhile Ipreferably propose to employ an end weft wire which in its first state of insertion in the belt is intlie form of a plurality of circular crosssection wires, sheathed in a 'tliin fiIm orcoating of brazing or hard solder, and in its final brazed state is an integral mass having the characteristics above outlined, I also propose to em loy wires of one piece, as for instance of rib on or oval cross-section, and also having these characteristics.

Another object is to provide an end weft wire which in connection with the warp wire ends will provide a structure which will be self-brazing upon the application of .heat, and so arrangedthat the end weft wires and warp wire ends will be intimately joined and trussed along their superimposed and immediately adjacent surfaces, without producing uneven lumpy spots, and with perfect uniformity alon' the entire width of the belt.

In the pro notion of wire belts of the present type it is practically impossible to exactly determine just which weft wire will constitute the end of a length of wire cloth for forming a belt of a given length, as the stretching and other operations, which the cloth undergoes after weaving, as well as varying conditions in the actual weaving, preclude such exact determination, it being borne in mind that in an 80-foot belt theremay be approximately 70,000 weft wires.

It is also unsatisfactory to weave into the wire cloth, while in the loom, a weft wire having different characteristics of shape or consistency from the regular weft wires, as a different characteristic would be imparted to the warp wires at this point due to the actions of the heddles and lay, and which might in some cases impair the body of the cloth rendering it unfit for paper making machine use.

It is therefore proposed as a further object of the invention to provide an end weft wire, having different characteristics from the regular weftwires, and which may be inserted in the cloth in substitution of and to replace one of the regular weft wires, removed for the purpose, and which will furthermore not injure or impair the structure and uniformity of the cloth. v

Another object is to provide end weft wires about which the lacing 'wire may be directly engaged, and which will so support it that the tendency to bow and project beyond the surface of the cloth will be obviated, assuring a firm, uniform and flat seam. v

A further object is to provide a seam which, because of the long contacting and joined areas of the end weft wires with the warp wire ends, will be particularly adapted for twill or other loose weave wire belts, where certain of the warp wires at the ends of the cloth may extendzover or under two or more weft wires, and therefore are not ordinarily so firmly supported as the others.

With the above and other objects in View, embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, and these embodiments will be hereinaf er more fully described with reference thereto, and the inven-' tion will be finally pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the belt at the seam.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view, taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1.

.Fig. 3 is a further enlarged plan view of a portion of the end of the wire cloth as woven in the loom.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view, taken along the line 44 of Fig. 3. I

Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the wire cloth with several of the end weft wires removed.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view, taken along the line t' 6 of'Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a plan view showing the end seam forming weft wire inserted in the wire cloth, L111; pro ecting warp ends having been clipped o Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 88 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is an end edge view partly in elevation, and partly in section along the line 99 of Fig. 7. I

Fig. 10 is a plan view showing the seam forming weft wire brazed to the warp wire ds. Fig. 11 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 1111 ofFig. 10.

1 Fig. 12 is an end edge view, partly in elevation, and partly in section along the line 1212 of Fig. 10.

Fig. 13 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of one end of a belt formed of twill weave wire cloth, and showing the same with the seam forming weft wire, according to the present invention, and before it is secured by the lacing wire to the other end. a

Fig. 14 is a longitudinal sectional View taken along the line 14-14 of Fig. 13.

Fig. 15 is a View similar to'Fig. l4, and showing a further modification in which two seam forming weft wires are inserted.

Figs. 16 and 17 are cross-sectional views of two modified forms of seam forming solder covered wires, one being of oval form and the other of ribbon form.

Figs. 18 and 19 are longitudinal sectional views of the end portion of a belt with these modified forms of scam forming wire brazed thereto.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1 to 12 thereof, Fig. 1 shows, greatly enlarged, a portion of the two ends of the wire cloth which are seamed together to, form a belt, the portion as shown representing a piece of the belt which in its actual size is about of an inch in width. The wire cloth consistsof warp wires 1 and weft wires 2 of brass, bronze, or other suitable material for the purpose. At each end of'the length of wire cloth several of the standard weft wires (th'ree'in the present embodiment), which have been woven in the loom, are removed, the wire being woven of slightly greater length than the length of the desired length of belt. In order to effectually remove these, and insert the end or seam forming wires, without injuring the body of the cloth, the first, second, and third shoots of standard weft wire,-indicated at a, b, and c in Fig. 3, are removed individually simply by pulling the same outwardly away from t e warp ends from one longitudinal edge of the cloth to the other. The removal of the weft wires tends to spread the warp ends slightly as shown in Fig. 6, the knuckles at the point 0, however, being substantially in their original relation, due to the springiness of the wire. The seam forming end weft wires are then inserted atthe point 0 and the projecting ends of the warp wlres are clipped off, before the brazing operation, as shown in Fig. 7, and as will be presently more fully ointed out.

The removal of the end we t wires produces at the point 0 a continuous straight passage transversely through the warp wires, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, this passage being sli htly wider in the longitudinal directio of the cloth than the diameter of the remo d wire, and also slightly wider, relatively to the thickness of the cloth, than the passage previously occu ied by the removed wire.

The seam orming end weft wire 3, in the present embodiment, comprises a pair of solder' covered wires 3 and 3, formed of suitable material, as bronze or brass, the solder covering 3 being preferably a hard or brazing solder, as for instance silver solder, and the diameters of these wires being suchthat they may be threaded through the transverse passage through the warp wires. In

order to provide a final structure of the desired dimensions and cross-section, these wires are preferably of less diameter than the wires in the body of the cloth, while their combined width is slightly greater than the diameter of said body wires. The threading may be facilitated by brazing needle wires 4, "of relatively stiffer metal, to the ends of the wires 3 and 3 as shown in Fig. 7, the latter being then pulled through the passage. This threading operation takes place before the warp ends are clipped off so that'there is no distortion of the warp ends at the point a. In orderto more closely conform the surface of the seam forming wires to the surfaces of the warp wire ends, a grooved roller may be passed along the edge to slightly compress the warp ends, causingthe. seam forming wires to assume a slightly'crimped shape, as shown in-Fig. 12. i v V Heat is now applied to the edge of the wire cloth containing the wires 3 and 3 which may first be coated with a suitable flux to facilitate the brazing action. The

wires slightly removed from the wires 3* and 3 to form trussing portions, as indicated at 3.

The two points at which the wires 3 and 3 contact with the warp wires before brazing, and the relatively wide upper and lower surfaces of two wires, not onl insures a large junction area between the wires 3 and 3 and the warp wire ends, but so relates the adjacent surfaces that a capillary flow of the metal takes place between the two wires 3 and 3" to integrally join them, and between these wires and the warp wire ends to integrally join and truss them, the interstices between the 'wires being at the same time maintained uniformly free of lumpy spots, because of the capillary flow of the metal away from them. This is clearly indicated in Figs. 10, 11 and 12.

The seam is now completed by hand-sewing the lacing wire 5 about the two butted ends in certain instances may e carried about the adjacent weft wires 2. Also in certam 1nstances it may bedesirable to provide two or more brazed-in wires 3, instead of the single end wire, as shown,'and my invention contemplates such a construction.

The brazed-in wires 3, because of their relatively thin cross-section, do .not increase the thickness of the cloth at the end, while their relatively wide substantially flat surfaces pro vide a firm support for the lacing wire, so that the tendency to bow, as would be the case with a circular cross-section larger-diameter end wire, is effectually prevented. 'The elongation of the cross-section of the wire 3 longitudinally of the belt provides a seam which will most effectually and uniformly oppose the great strain imposed during use ofthe belt, and the warp wire ends are furthermore securely heldagainst spreading or camming open, so that the chance of damage-to the paper or the belt from this cause is eliminated.

In Figs. 13 and 14 I have shown the embodiment of my invention in a belt in which the weave isof the twill type, and in which the warp threads 1 are'carried over one and und ertwo' ofthe' weft threads, while the weft threads 2 are carried over two and under one of the warp" threads. Obviousl the warp ends have different relations to t e end weft wire, certain of them being carried over it and under the next weft wire, others being under it and over the next weft wire, and still others being carried under it and also under the next weft wire, so that there is a greater tendency for these latter ends to spread. The end weft wire 3, according to my invention, is

In Figs. 16 and 18 I have shown a single solder covered end weft wire 6 of substantially oval cross-section, and in Figs. 17 and 19 I have shown a single solder covered wire 7 of flatjor ribbon-like cross-section.- These wires are adapted to be inserted in'the same manner as the two wires 3 and 3 and in their final brazed form have substantially the same relation in the belt.-

I have illustrated and described preferred and satisfactory embodiments of my invention, but it will be obvious that changes may be made therein within the spirit and scope thereof, as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described myinvention what I claim and desire to secureby Letters Pat- 1. In a wire cloth belt, a length of woven wirecloth', a weft strand at each end thereof engaged with the warp wire ends and having a ci'oss-section elongated longitudinall of the cloth, and means connecting the en s of said cloth together to form a belt.

2. In a wire cloth belt, a length of woven wire cloth, a weft strand at each end thereof engaged with the warp wire ends and having a cross-section elongated longitudinally of the cloth and connected to said warp wire ends by a metallic junction, and means connecting the ends of said cloth together to form a belt.

3. In a wire cloth belt, a length of woven wire cloth, a weft strand at each end thereof engaged with the warp wire ends and connected thereto by a metallic junction elongated relatively to the length of the warp wires, and means connecting the ends of said cloth together to form a belt.

4. In a wire cloth belt, a length of woven wire cloth, a weft strand at each end engaged with the warp wire ends thereof and having a cross-section elongated longitudinally of the cloth, and connected to said warp wire ends by a metallic junction, and a lacing wire engaged about said end weft strands and connectin the ends of form a be t.

5. In a wire cloth belt, a length of woven wire'cloth, a weft strand at each end engaged with the warp wire ends thereof and having a cross-section elongated longitudinally of the cloth and connected to said warp wire ends by a metallic junction coextensive with the superimposed areas of said end weft wires and said warp wire ends and extending beyond said superimposed areas of said warp wire ends, and means connecting the ends of said cloth together to form a belt.

6. In a wire cloth belt, alength of woven wire cloth, a replacement weft strand at each end having a laterally elongated cross-section and engaged with the warp wire endsthereo'f in substitution of a removed and previously woven-in weft strand having a circular crosssection, and means connecting the ends of said cloth together to form a belt.

7. In a wire cloth belt, a length of woven wire cloth, a weft strand at-each end engaged-with the warp wire ends thereof and comprising a plurality of juxtaposed wires connected together along their ent-ire length by brazing and connected to said warp wire ends by brazing, and means connecting the ends of said cloth together to form a belt.

8. In a wire cloth belt, a leng of woven wire cloth, a weft strand at ea h end engaged with the warp wireends thereof and comprising a plurality of juxtaposed w'res of said cloth'together to a diametervsmaller than the diameter of the other weft wires, connected together along their entire length by brazing, and connected to said warp wire ends by brazing, and means connecting the ends of said cloth together to form a belt.

'9. In a wire cloth belt, a length of woven wire cloth, a weft strand at each end engaged with the warp wire ends thereof and comprising a plurality of juxtaposed solder covered wires connected together along their entire length by brazing and connected to said warp wire ends by brazing, and means con necting the ends of said cloth together to form a belt.

10. The method of forming a wire cloth belt, which comprises providing weft strands having an elongated cross-section at each end of a length of wire cloth, brazing said weft strands to the warp wire ends along junction areas elongated longitudinally ofthe warp wires, and securing the two ends of the cloth together by a lacing wire to form a seam.

11. The method of forming a wire'cloth belt, which comprises providing weft strands at each end of a length of wire cloth, each consisting of a plurality of solder covered wires, brazing said plurality of wires together along their length to form an integral strand having an elongated cross-section, brazing said weft strands to the warp wire ends, and securing the two ends of the cloth together by a lacing wire to form a seam.

12. The method of forming a, wire cloth belt, which comprises providing weft strands at each end of a length of wire cloth, each consisting of a plurality of solder covered wires, brazing said plurality of wires together along their len th to form an integral strand having an e ongated cross-section, brazing said weft strands to the warp wire ends simultaneously with the brazing together of said solder covered wires, and securing the two ends of the cloth-togethexgby a, lacing wire to form a seam. {2;

Signed at Belleville, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, this 26th day of February, 1929. i

v NELSON W. WEBB. 

